


School Days

by roguefaerie (samidha)



Series: Among the Trees [9]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Drabble Sequence, Gen, Queer Character, Queer Gen, Young Winchesters (Supernatural)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-07
Updated: 2018-04-07
Packaged: 2019-04-19 20:05:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14244753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samidha/pseuds/roguefaerie
Summary: Doug is back at school, and slowly the Winchester kids are rebuilding with their friends.





	School Days

**Author's Note:**

> This series has a point. I swear. lol. Y'all have to know the characters before I get on with plot tho.

1.

The next time Sam and Dean see Doug, he’s getting off of the bus at school. He’s gaunt, not horror movie gaunt, although Sam and Dean have much less knowledge of that color than they could have. Doug is hospital gaunt, exhausted kid gaunt, with even more red in his eyes than usual.

Jeremy whizzes past them both and stops at the bottom of the bus stairs. But they know what he’s telling Doug to do.

 _Grab on_ , and quietly Doug does. They walk in step to their own classroom without a word spoken between them. Doug’s home.

2.

In the playground at recess, both Sam and Dean stand near their two friends, not caring what anyone thinks or does as long as they know the three of them can keep Doug from getting into any scrapes. He’s wheezing a bit and they know a lot more about the sounds his lungs make than they did when they met when Sammy was in Kindergarten.

No one says anything about Doug being sick--the kids just give him a lot more space than usual. They stare more too.

Doug is more tired than anyone’s ever seen him, and Sam is worried.

3.

 _Your Dad called me_ , Dean says, knowing the secret is safe among the four of them.

Doug blinks up at him, rubs his eyes. _What?_ When he asks it, his mouth moves a little, maybe shocked, maybe not.

_You can call us later. Or when you’re not so tired,_ Dean says. _We might be worried but we’re not scared. A Winchester isn’t scared of much._

Jeremy nods a little. He believes it, and maybe Doug will, too. 

Doug looks spooked. He wheezes and coughs, but he doesn’t answer and doesn’t call later. 

4\. 

Sam is getting antsy about his friends when they finally initiate contact a week later. They’re walking close together, but Doug isn’t clinging to Jer’s chair anymore for support. 

They pass their classmates, and Sam’s as well, and some of the kids sneer, but they know better than to pick a fight with a Winchester kid standing that close. There’s something eerie about them. 

“Hey. If my Dad called you,” Doug says, in a low whisper, “Then we’re really friends. We’re like family.” Some things are worth saying out loud. 

Both Dean and Sam break into grins. 

“Yeah. We are.” 


End file.
